Framed golden arch messages: A content analysis of McDonald's television commercials in correlation with the obesity epidemic around the globe
Abstract
Obesity is a growing problem all around the world. Fast food companies invest billions of dollars every year intending to sell their new and improved menu items. This study examined one of the largest fast food companies in the world, McDonalds. The present study investigated how McDonalds communicates nutritional claims as well as portion size throughout television commercial messages. The countries that took part in this examination were the United States, Canada, India, and Japan. Each of these countries has much different percentage rates of obese citizens. A content analysis examined one commercial in each of the four countries. In addition, a generation was researched in twelve McDonald's commercials. The results showed that the majority of the portions advertised were visual. While analyzing the nutritional content of the commercials it was obvious that McDonalds misleads their viewer many. The research compared what each commercial stated with the nutritional facts found online. The framing theory was then used to show how McDonalds frames their nutritional claims in television commercial messages. The results of this research indicated in countries with higher obesity rates, McDonalds framed their commercials more than in countries with lower obesity rates.
Subject Area
Communication
Recommended Citation
Macauley, Laura, "Framed golden arch messages: A content analysis of McDonald's television commercials in correlation with the obesity epidemic around the globe" (2013). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI1545179.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI1545179